 The Hartz mountains of central Germany
contain something which will be of interest to anyone
interested in Halloween - Witches. The first thing a
visitor notices when they enter into the Hartz mountains
and stop in one of the towns, is that there are witches
everywhere - witches in store fronts, witches on
newspapers, hundreds of handmade witches flying on
broomsticks hanging in every shop. There are bottles of
drinks with names such as Harzer Hexenritt (Hartz
Witch-ride), Brocken Hexe (Brocken Witch -
"after a Harz family recipe"), all with
colorful pictures of witches on them. There are
postcards, books of Hartz legends, stories, and history,
woodcarvings, glasses, dolls, pictureframes, plates - all
dealing with the central issue of witches. |
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 When one digs deeper into these
traditions, by reading some of the local brosures and
books, and by visiting some of the key areas, the picture
becomes a little clearer. The people of the Hartz
mountains preserve many colorful and old traditions for
holidays around the year - which they have always
celebrated. The holiday that interests us is on April 30th,
known in the Hartz mountains as Walpurgis Night. This is
of course, exactly 6 months after Halloween. The
villagers of the Hartz mountains have announcements and
posters everywhere for the locations of the Walpurgis
Night festivals. There are locations at various places
throughout the Hartz mountains, ranging from the Brocken
mountain in the center of the Hartz mountains, to the
Hexentanzplatz ("Witches Dancing Place"), in
the east, in former East Germany. |
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 Of course, the Brocken mountain, the
highest mountain in the Hartz mountain range, is the
mountain that was traditionally associated with witches,
as their central meeting place during Walpurgis Night.
However, when one looks for actual historical sites for
meeting places, one finds two outstanding locations:
Wurmberg Mountain, next to the town of Braunlage, the
second highest mountain in the Hartz, and the
Hexentanzplatz, on top of the mountains by the town of
Thale, at the east end of the Hartz mountain range. In
these two locations are found rings of stones and cleared
areas, and even "theaters" made out of stone,
where hundreds of people could have meet. In fact, in
Thale, hundreds, or even thousands of people still do
meet there on Walpurgis Night, coming from miles around
to see concerts and theatrical presentations, and to view
the huge bonfire on top of the mountain, one of many
bonfires burning throughout the Hartz mountains on that
night. |
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 There are many things which go into the
atmosphere of the Hartz mountain traditions. The
mountains are full of mines, and mining lore, along with
gemstones and metals, are found everywhere. There is also
a huge variety of wildlife in the mountains, some of
which, such as the goat and the wild boar, was connected
with the folklore of the witches. The books you can find
in the Hartz discuss all of this colorful tradition,
asking such question as "How did the witches learn
to fly", and suggesting which local plants they may
have used. Here and there among the mountains are also
found writing in ancient runes, carved into stone. And,
as we already mentioned, the huge bonfires at night with
hundreds of villagers and neighbors gathered around are
open to all. |
